Inocente

By Alexander Wood

Before the advent of the online community, it seemed like film financing deals were done in backrooms where cigar smoke further clouded the chances of getting any funding. Thankfully, the Web has made such a thing of the past for independent filmmakers on a mission to get their creative projects made without the restrictions and hurdles of conventional (read: slow moving) channels. Kickstarter, IndieGoGo and Aflamnah provide unique marketplaces where original content can be discovered by audiences who later become emotionally and financially-invested in a project. This online crowd-funding connects excited audiences with passionate filmmakers, resulting in a beautiful synergy that supports art and film.

Crowd-funding allows people from around the world to converge on a story that captures their imagination, whether tales of Boats, Beaches, and Bears or Lord Tubbington the cat. Leveraging audience support for a given project can be extremely valuable to documentary filmmakers who otherwise might not gain such wide exposure until their films are complete. Throughout the concept stage of their projects filmmakers can turn to one of the many crowd-funding platforms and hopefully gain the much-needed financial support to get their idea off the page and onto the screen. Documentary filmmakers now have access to a world of eager like-minded audiences to help, allowing them to dedicate precious time to crafting their film, rather than searching for money. Most sites operate within an all-or-nothing mentality, meaning that if you don’t reach your funding goal, the funds return to those who agreed to finance the project. This sense of urgency is a pivotal part of these evolving online communities that assist filmmakers and artists, as the underlying message is if you don’t help a project meet its goals, it will die – just like the groundbreaking project to build the Death Star.

Much like the space defense fortress project, Sean and Andrea Fine’s film needed help getting off the ground and turned to Kickstarter for assistance. Their documentary short ‘Inocente’ follows a young and passionate painter who, due to tragic circumstances, is left homeless. Amid her struggle to deal with everyday life, she pours herself into her art in order to participate in a high-profile gallery show, which has the potential to launch her career and change her life. This film was made possible through the support of 294 ‘Backers’ who contributed $52,527 in order to ensure that the film would become a reality.

The success of ‘Inocente’ wasn’t just contained to the world of Kickstarter: it caught the eye of a few people at the Academy Awards. The Fine’s efforts paid off, with their documentary becoming the first Kickstarter funded project to win an Oscar. If there was any doubt about the quality of content and the effectiveness of crowd-funding, ‘Inocente’ has disproven such quandaries. This success is one of many in recent years that have been directly funded by audiences who want to see projects become more than scribblings in a notebook.

Documentary filmmakers continually turn to crowd-funding platforms to secure their financing, enthrall their audiences, and ensure that their work is enjoyed by people around the globe. Whether you are inspired by the human qualities of batman, connect with cold-water surfers or empathise with the struggles of families in Palestine, the scope of documentary films you can support are endless. It seems that the new wave of content creation includes viewers’ interests, opinions, and now financial resources, increasingly blurring the once static division between audience and filmmaker.

For those creatives or filmmakers who are thinking about turning to the online community for a little help, DFI’s Reem Shaddad has written a guide on how to create a successful crowd-funding campaign.